Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has decided to set up a committee to formulate new education policy for the state. A decision to this effect was arrived at a meeting chaired by chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.
“Since the education is a state subject, the state government has decided to formulate the policy that would ensure holistic growth of the students. The old policy would continue until the new one is duly approved and implemented,” said a senior officer of the state education department.
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The National Education Policy (NEP) has been formulated without taking the state governments into confidence. Education policy cannot be imposed by central government. The chief minister opined that what is being imposed is a conspiracy. A uniform education system cannot be established in a country like India with multi-cultural and pluralistic society. Therefore, the CM said that a committee will be formed to formulate a new education policy while continuing the old education system.
Other BJP-ruled states are also hesitant to implement the National Education Policy. States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have made it clear to the Central Government that they will not implement the National Education Policy. The chief minister was confident that the state cannot be treated unfairly since, the centrally funded schemes are applicable to all the states.
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The CM expressed his concern that NEP will affect the poor, scheduled caste, tribal, backward and rural people. Even if the certificate is issued every year in higher education, how many job opportunities they get who have studied for one or two years? Even if the poor students get job opportunities and quit study in a year or two, will they be able to study further in future?
The CM said that the educational institutions do not have the necessary infrastructure to implement this educational policy. This has created unnecessary confusion.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, higher education minister MC Sudhakar, primary education minister Madhu Bangarappa, senior literature Prof Baraguru Ramachandrappa and senior government officials were present in the meeting.
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Earlier, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had attacked the NEP, saying it is incompatible with the federal system and has several anomalies that undermine the Constitution and democracy. In his budget speech in the state legislative assembly, he had announced that the Karnataka government would formulate a new education policy keeping in mind the local social, cultural and economic milieu of the state.
